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CD-Box Cover
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The prolific Mr Theodorakis turned his attention to opera only in relatively recent years.
The first thing you can do is to resist the temptation to try to compare Theodorakis' version of the Greek tragedy with a certain earlier treatment of the same subject. It is with considerable pleasure that it may be stated that his opera does not attempt to occupy the same musical or dramatic territory as Strauss' masterwork, and that it succeeds admirably on its own terms.
Rich, lush and brooding, it suggests a Romantic musical world a generation earlier than Strauss' - closer to Zemlinsky, perhaps, or the neo-Romantic throwbacks in the harmonies of John Adams or Philip Glass. But this is not minimal music in any sense, and it is not warmed-over 19th-century gestures either, but rather a natural continuation into 20th-century terms, with due acknowledgement paid to artistic developments of our time such as film and popular song, of the operatic tradition of Italy, which lends itself very naturally to the depiction of ancient Greek drama (which, let's face it, could have been designed to provide plots for Italian opera), especially when the reinterpretation is carried out by a composer of Theodorakis' gifts for drama and melody combined.
This is perhaps the most beautiful and wholly successful work of this composer that we have ever offered, and anyone who has ever been attracted even in passing to any of his music will find that this opera explores all the best characteristics suggested elsewhere in his output.
3 CDs. German-English libretto. Galina Dolbonos (soprano), Vladimir Feljaer (tenor), Daria Rybakova (mezzo), St. Petersburg State Academic Capella; Mikis Theodorakis. Intuition Int 3312-2 (Germany) 11C050 $53.98
from: Records International, 2000
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